26° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL
THE ZONE
LE BATTEMENT D'AILES D'UN PAPILLON - FILM SUR UN FILM INACHEVE
by Aleksandr Balagura
Country: France, Ukraina
Year: 2008
Duration: 64'
Twenty-five years ago, in Kiev, a mother gave her son a 16mm movie
camera. He and his friends, who were all film aficionados, began
shooting one film each. Today, the movie camera has disappeared,
as have some of the friends and the place where all this happened.
But the spools of film that were shot back then still remain, as does
the desire to understand the meaning of those films that were begun
back then and perhaps, in a certain sense, to finish them.
“I believe that the beating of a butterfly’s wings really can cause
an earthquake. I know that a new reality was born the moment the
movie camera began to film. And this new reality didn’t come about
by chance, just like that beating of wings isn’t by chance, just like the
witness we bore of the beating of wings isn’t by chance either. The point
might be to understand what we are bearing witness to. I don’t think
all this can be completely resolved. Memories and images exist, usually
by chance; we don’t choose them, they live with us, they pursue us.
They are often more real than the reality that surrounds us. And we
can’t do anything about it. We are like chance fragments of old film.”
Biography
film director
Aleksandr Balagura
Aleksandr Balagura (Luboml, Ukraine, 1961), after graduating in history and social sciences from the State University of Kiev, taught at the state middle school until 1988, when he began his film career as a director at the Ukrainian State Documentary Film Studio in Kiev. His first documentary, To Your Brother and Sister: Ukraine Today (1990) won first prize for Best documentary at the Festival dei Popoli of Florence. He has also made various television programs. He has been a member of the Ukrainian Filmmakers Union since 1994. He currently lives and works in Italy.
FILMOGRAFIA
Nashym bratam i sestram (To Your Brother and Sister: Ukraine Today, doc., 1990), Vulyzya-Vdova (Widowstreet, doc., 1991), Try hrama na moiy doloni (doc., 1991), Melodia (doc., 1992), Z zelenyh dumok odnogo Lysa (doc., 1993), Eklektychna messa (mala) (doc., 1994), Antologion (1996), Vladimir Costenko (cm, TV, 1997), Anatoly Sirich (cm, TV, 1997), Rafail Nachmanovich (cm, TV, 1997), Pausa italiana (film sull’attesa del film) (2004),Verso meta (l’esperienza di un viaggio) (2005), Le battement d’ailes d’un papillon (film sur un film inachevé) (2008).
Cast
& Credits
regia, soggetto, sceneggiatura, montaggio/director, story, screenplay, film editing Aleksandr Balagura
fotografia/cinematography Nicolas Rey, Viktor Kabachenko
suono/sound Alexey Salov
produttore/producer Luc Meichler
produzione/production LGM, G.I.E. Meichler
coproduttore/coproducer Svitlana Zinovieva
coproduzione/coproduction Inspiration Fi
fotografia/cinematography Nicolas Rey, Viktor Kabachenko
suono/sound Alexey Salov
produttore/producer Luc Meichler
produzione/production LGM, G.I.E. Meichler
coproduttore/coproducer Svitlana Zinovieva
coproduzione/coproduction Inspiration Fi